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Countries, organizations, companies and non-governmental organizations celebrated the 2021 edition of International Women's Day on March 8, 2021.

For CORAF, it was an opportunity to review its efforts and interventions aimed at advancing gender equality.

"The agricultural sector suffers from gender inequalities in access to resources and agricultural production factors, to opportunities, and to the impacts of agricultural research and development. This compromises the efforts needed to achieve food self-sufficiency in West and Central Africa", maintains Dr Mariame Maïga, CORAF's Regional Gender and Social Development Advisor.

TheFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that "if the gap between men and women were closed in terms of agricultural inputs alone, between 100 and 150 million people would escape hunger".

CORAF's mission is to improve food and nutrition security in West and Central Africa. In doing so, CORAF ensures that the considerations of women and young people are taken into account in its programming and implementation.

A gender strategy adopted some ten years ago has enabled CORAF to institutionalize gender in its programs, procedures and governance system.

"CORAF's gender policy aims to facilitate equitable access to the resources, opportunities and impacts of agricultural research and development," says Dr Maïga.

Over the past decade, CORAF has implemented several flagship programs. Below are some of the advances made to improve women's livelihoods:

• Programme de Productivité Agricole en Afrique de l'Ouest (PPAAO): PPAAO recorded 4,536,562 female beneficiaries out of a total of 9,246,489, representing 49% of female beneficiaries. In addition, 28% of women benefited from Master's and Doctorate training in agricultural sciences. 
• The Partnership for Agricultural Research, Education and Development in West Africa (PAIRED) programFifty-four percent of women are involved in project activities.
• Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF)This program has been implemented through 17 regional projects in West and Central Africa. Some 100,000 people have been reached, 43% of them women.
• The Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development (C4R4D) project Aimed at increasing the critical human capital for agricultural research in West and Central Africa, the project recorded a score of 43% for women among the beneficiaries of the scholarships awarded.

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When the Ebola crisis broke out in 2014, CORAF led a massive effort to coordinate seed delivery to some of the affected communities in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

The initiative registered 45% of women beneficiaries in terms of access to seeds and input packages.

A gender-sensitive governance system

CORAF's results in terms of gender do not only concern the projects' final beneficiaries. They have also been recorded at the level of CORAF governance. For example, while the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) had just one woman among its twelve (12) members in 2012, it has now achieved parity, counting six women and six men. At the level of the Executive Secretariat in Dakar, in 2019, almost 46% were women. This figure has since fallen to 36% due to the constant movement of staff for personal or professional development, or to join other organizations. CORAF's current Board Chair is Dr Angela Moreno from Cape Verde, who represents the first female Board Chair in the organization's 34-year history.